Well now we get to Schwarzld being a part of the story again.
She was back in the field, in front of an old farmhouse, whose sole occupant sat rocking in a chair. Why am I back here? She tried to ask him, but her lips wouldn't give voice to her thoughts.
"You have come a long way to be here, young lady. Sit with me here for a while, let your mind be at ease." Gordon Rosewater sat in his wooden rocking chair staring out over the farm that surrounded his small wooden cabin. The old man didn't bother to look at Ray while he spoke. Ray was disturbed by this. Hadn't he said these words before?
"So you finally summoned me here?" Ray sat on the edge of the porch, looking out to the farm. Why did I ask that again? Why can I not change the course of our conversation? Internally she was vexed, and externally the conversation went on. "Why now?"
"There wasn't a reason to call you here before. You who are of another world had no part to play in the story originally." His voice was raspy as it had been before.
"Did something change?" Ray looked back at the octogenarian. A lot's changed since the last time we talked like this? Why are we having the exact same conversation again?
"Indeed, quite a bit has changed. And there is much to tell you in so short a time." Gordon stopped rocking and became serious.
"Well, best get on with the explanations then." Ray laid back on the porch to listen.
"To put it plainly, the negotiator and the android have come to find you a curiosity, the negotiator finds this mystery unraveling while the android wishes for your existence. What is more, the butler has come to see you as one of his own, and memory given form has found you to be a part of a past that shouldn't exist." Ray wasn't completely certain, but she was sure something in that what he just said had changed.
"I thought you said you were going to put that plainly." Ray couldn't help but laugh. Always talking in riddles this old man was, but she understood what he meant, all the same. "So Roger wants to fly too close to the sun, Dorothy wants me to be around for a bit, Norman thinks of me as someone important to him, and Angel… Wait, what was that about '...finding me a part of a past that shouldn't exist'?" Ok and some of what I said just changed too, but I didn't want to say any of that.
"You will learn soon enough that you who should not be in this world in any form, have become an indispensable part of it."
"Wait, hold up. Does that mean I cannot go home?"
"It means that there is no easy way home for you." And with Gordon's last words at parting, Ray woke up with a start, in cold sweat and shaking as if she had run yet another underground marathon.
"The exact same dream again? But why couldn't I ask anything different? Why did so little change?" Ray resolved to go visit the old man sooner than later. She got up from the bed and went to the desktop computer that now graced her room, and would have turned it on had a furry visitor not been sleeping on the keyboard. "Really Robin? The computer's not even turned on."
"Rwar?" He didn't care that Ray wanted to use the computer, he wanted her attention and not for her to type out her dream. "Meow."
"Ok fur ball, off the keyboard." Ray tried to move him and Robin turned into cat liquid, refusing to move. "Really? Come on you." Ray did not give in and eventually got Robin up, and put him on the floor. "Stop touching the computer, you can't even use it, you're a cat."
"He doesn't understand you like Pero could." Dorothy was at the door, and Robin trotted over happily. "Why talk to him like he does?"
"Habit." Ray stated nonchalantly. "Maybe keep him off my computer in the future?"
"Are you recording your nightmares again?"
"Yeah, the nightmares are getting weirder, and I don't like it much."
"Well, you should go back to sleep soon. You have your motorcycle license test in the morning."
"I know, this lack of sleep and nightmares isn't helping." Ray yawned as Dorothy picked up Robin and left her to record what had happened in her nightmares.
The next morning Norman woke Ray up early and the two rode on her bike to the license exam. Ray was a little nervous, but she had to get her license or she couldn't drive anywhere, and Norman had insisted on teaching her the basics since giving her that Heavens Day gift. I'm sure I'll pass, but that doesn't make it any less nerve racking.
The DMV in Paradigm was as annoying as in Ray's own world. Wait a while in a long line, eventually get called up, go take a test, and she passed! "Yeah! Now I can drive anywhere I want."
"Safely and following the law young lady." Norman chidded her for her unusual exuberance in the middle of the DMV.
"Yes sir. Let's go home. Roger will be up soon and I want something to eat." She'd been too nervous to eat that morning and now her stomach was rumbling. The ride home Norman allowed Ray to drive, and despite a few objections on his part the two made it home safe.
"I assume you passed, since you drove home." Dorothy greeted them at the elevator door to the servants quarters.
"Yup." Ray's stomach growled, "And now I'm hungry. I'll help Norman make breakfast, so you may as well go wake up Mr Grumpy pants." Norman tried to stifle a harump on his part but failed. Dorothy went to go wake Roger while the two cooked.
No one knows what actually happened 40 years ago. The only thing that seems to have been left behind is the fear that may have completely changed the world. No. There was one other thing that wasn't forgotten. The Megadeuses, which surpass the technology of everything else in this world.
That fear is likely what caused my young client to contact me, however...
Roger had been tasked with negotiating with a unique client, only one problem. No one could find his client. Roger drove down to the Speakeasy to talk with Big Ear, and Dorothy tagged along. Once inside he went to talk to the information dealer.
"Your client's missing?" Big Ear asked between cigarette puffs. "... Maybe she sequestered herself to work on a new song?"
"How do you know what my client does?"
"Everyone in the city knows." Big Ear laughed, which was uncharacteristic of him, "... In fact, that song you're hearing now is her work."
"This is her song?" Roger seemed a little surprised, but not entirely shocked. Everyone had been singing or listening to this single the last week.
"Not everyone knows her name, but everyone's heard this song."
"Isn't she just starting out?" He seemed a little surprised. For a newcomer to get a hit single at the top of the charts was rare.
"It's not experience that sells a song." Big Ear puffed a smoke ring. "I'll see if I can find her for you."
"Thanks. Found anything more about Ray?" Roger took a sip of his beer, thinking that it had been a while since he asked.
"Not unless you want to pay me for what you already know." With that Roger left.
"Roger, Norman got a call from the client. We're to meet her right away." Dorothy stated matter of factly. While Roger had been inside she had stayed in the Griffin and waited in case new information came in.
Figures. I just hired Big Ear. With that the two set off to the meeting point. "Dorothy, have you heard my client's song?"
"Everyone has."
"I hadn't really paid attention to it. Mind singing it for me?"
Dorothy closed her eyes, searched her databanks briefly, and started to sing the hit single.
The Sun will rise again
The sun will rise on me
The sun will rise again,
A shining morning will come.
We lost our hopes and dreams, some 40 years ago
We live our lives in twilight, never knowing what we know,
The sun will rise again
And shine its light on what we lost.
We can't go anywhere, we can't get where we're going
'Cause we don't know where we're from.
As Dorothy sang the short tune the two made their way across the bridge and down to the factory district.
"Is this the place Dorothy?"
"This is the address we were given." The two got out of the car into the chill of an early January midday. Roger looked up and around, most of this area hadn't been used in a while and was set for demolition. The paint chipped off the walls of the steel walls of the chemical plant, the smoke stacks clear, as they hadn't been run in a while. The two went into the building in front of them.
Rusted pipes creaked in an abandoned factory, where the two had been told to meet with the client, someone else Roger didn't expect was waiting for them.
"You came." In the gloom of the dark lightless factory, a bandaged figure stepped forth. "You pitiful dog, this rotten city keeps you on a tight leash." Schwarzwald was there, in front of them, acting like his usual dramatic self. "It's been a while, though I'm sure to you our previous meetings were nothing of note."
"No… I can't forget someone as crazy as you."
"Really, well then I guess it hasn't been so long then has it!" His voice echoed like a shout in the abandoned room.
"Then why are you here?"
"Thanks to your big friend, I was able to discover the connection between it and you." Schwarzwald wore a smile, that had he not been covered in bandages and stank of rotted flesh might have been clownish.
"Huh." That caught Roger off guard. Of course he would know Roger piloted it, but what other connection was there than that?
"Interesting, very interesting, and yet puzzling." Schwarzwald took his hands out of his trench coat pockets and gestured around vaguely. "You can operate it. But the way you use it makes no sense, puzzling indeed."
Roger stayed silent, trying not to bark at the madman to get lost. Their client was supposed to be there after all, and could be in danger from the pyromaniac. Thankfully Dorothy's constantly cool head prevailed. "I'm puzzled too. Who are you really? Why are you here instead of our client?"
"Oh? Did he not tell you? Your guardian knows full well who I am. But your client…" He paused, and his smile became even more terrifying, before he finally jeered, "Is dead!"
"What?!" Roger no longer felt the need to keep a cool head. If his client was dead then did this madman set this meeting up just to taunt him.
"We shall meet again, and when we do, I will instruct you in it's proper usage." With that the mummy melted into the darkness, and despite trying to follow him he was rather adept at masking his presence.
"Wait, what are you talking about Schwarzwald!" Roger gave chase, but ultimately lost him in the gloam.
"The black forest…?" So that's what he's like? This is the man that was able to torment Roger not once, but twice? While Dorothy didn't understand his choice of name, she was sure someone she knew did.
"The proper way to use Big O? Schwarzwald what do you mean by that?" Roger was frazzled to say the least.
The next day the client's body was found, and the police ruled it's a suicide. Afterwards her song was played on every station as some form of memorial to a young life lost. Rumors went around saying the angels had called her to paradise, and her song became a hymn of hope for those outside the domes. But Roger couldn't get Schwarzwald words about how to use Big O out of his head.
"Your client is dead. Maybe it's best not to linger on whatever happened and just blame the fanatical mummy?" Ray's attempt to console Roger that evening was out of place for her, but she didn't see a reason not to try and sooth his temper.
"Yeah. Maybe you're right. Still what did he mean?"
"Roger if you keep letting Schwarzwald get to you he's just going to drag you down to his level of crazy. Trust me when I say just let it be. He'll probably show up in bombastic fashion later to torment you again eventually. Just let it be for now." Ray was knitting on the couch while Roger downed some brandy and Dorothy played piano nearby.
"You're probably right. That's also rather insightful coming from you Ray."
Ray shrugged and then Dorothy decided to question her. "Do you have experience with that Ray?"
"Dorothy could you not tonight?" Roger took another gulp of his brandy and refilled his glass.
'Nah, for once she's right. I've been down a rabbit hole of insanity one too many times." Ray looked up from her knitting and stretched before checking her pattern and getting back to it. "Trust me, even just once is once too many. Don't let him torture you more than he has. Or knock his teeth in next time he pops up. That might be cathartic."
"Why would assault be cathartic? Won't Roger get in trouble if he does that?"
"Who's the maniac going to go to? The cops will arrest him on sight, or shoot him. No attorney will take an assault case without a police report. I suppose he could cast fireball at Roger but that would take him being able to burn more than himself or commit arson." Ray sighed and appeared a little depressed. "I wish there were games like Dungeons and Dragons in Paradigm. I haven't found anything quite like it."
"Dungeons and what now?" Roger put down his bandy and wondered what the heck Ray was going to reveal this time.
"Um... " Ray looked up from what she was knitting and tried thinking of a way out of it. Not finding one after a bit of mental gymnastics, she chose to attempt an explanation of what she had just said. "Ok I'm not sure if I can put into words just what I meant, but here goes. So it's a game you play with other people that involves a lot of dice rolling and…"
"Do you mean gambling?" Dorothy questioned Ray from her musical perch.
"No! I mean there is gambling in it, but that's not the main point. What I'm trying to get at is that a few people sit around a table, following a story that the dungeon master or game master or whatever you call it makes up, with characters each person has rolled using some special dice and putting some points into attributes. The stories are usually really long, and the characters you and the other players make try to follow the campaign. It's usually in a fantasy setting and characters fight monsters to get expirenance and find plot details. Sometimes you go into dungeons or catacombs and labyrinths to fight too." Ray wasn't sure her terrible verbiage was helping get her point across at all, but it couldn't be said she wasn't trying her best.
"Oh you mean like Memories and Megadeus?" Roger asked. Ray's half-bad attempt at explaining had jogged Rogers' memory of a game he had played with friends in highschool that sounded fairly similar, but without any dragons.
"Wait you know what I'm talking about?! Holy crap why didn't I ask about this sooner I could've found a group my age to play with, argh!" Ray put down the knitting in frustration and gripped the sides of her head like she was about to have a panic attack.
"Are you ok?" Roger could only question Ray's sudden frantic acting.
"Nope. Also how is it that you knew what I meant Roger? Have you… Have you played it before?" Ray turned her astonished gaze upon Roger.
"Um, well you see, that's…" Roger tried to hide behind the evening newspaper Norman had just brought him and ignore Ray's piercing stare.
"Freaking nerd!" Ray teased with a half smile.
In another part of town, a different kind of Angel in her more casual attire and a messy bun was meeting with Beck's girlfriend, Yume, and his two mooks out on work release having a phone call with Beck in prison.
Becks voice was heard over the phone, "An angel from heaven eh? That's what you're telling us? Just like in that song."
"Yes." Angel seemed rather amused by their antics. The four, even the one separated by some distance burst into laughter.
"So some angels are gonna come save all 'o us sinners? That singer wasn't as lucky." Yume got huffy but was still shaking with mirth. An angel? She's crazy as her name implies.
"Who knows." Was Angel's only response.
"Hmph. So what do you want from me? I'm in jail, remember." Beck wasn't amused by the buxom blondes antics.
"On the second sunday of this month the skies over Paradigm city will clear for the first time in 40 years. And an angel will descend."
"Clear skies! So the suns gonna rise like the song says?" T-Bone was in disbelief, all anyone in the past 40 years knew was perpetual cloud cover.
"I'm just passing along some information. Consider it a gift from me to all of you." And with that Angel left the halfwits to plan. For her this was nothing more than moving some pawns.
Without Angel around to stop them, and only Beck's guidance over the phone, the three mooks created a plan to get some funds for the bosses next big escape.
As a result of Roger's dead client making a song about the sun returning, a bit of a cult following had sprung up, and much to Ray's consternation she was running into them everywhere and then some.
"An Angel's really coming down to us. The song is telling the truth." A short, somewhat chubby man with a dark almond skin tone was wearing something akin to a padre's outfit with a brimmed hat spoke on the corner of a run down street outside the domes.
"Then… the sun really is going to rise again?" An elderly man at the front of the gathered crowd asked.
"That's right. Paradigms first dawn in forty years." The crowd murmured at T-Bones affirmation.
"What's that about?" Major Dan Dastun was on foot patrol with a few men when he saw the crowd.
"They think an Angel is coming for real." A lieutenant answered him.
"Ridiculous. Let them have their fantasies, but that singer died horribly." Dastun scoffed before becoming grim, "I think she was running from something."
"You think she was murdered?" The lieutenant asked, a little shocked.
"There's no evidence for it, but there was a handwritten note. The company people took it and forced us to close the case." Dastun sighed and put his hands in his pockets leaning against his patrol vehicle. "That crowd is getting agitated."
"Yeah should we break it up?" The lieutenant leaned against the vehicle with his superior.
"No, but be ready, this could turn into a riot." Thankfully Dastun's fears were unfounded, a bit longer and the crowd shrank.
"Join us, the sun will surely raise again." A familiar woman in a black nun's outfit, save for the missing habit, and the addition of sunglasses, was begging for donations on the corner with two similarly conspicuously dressed men. Some gave money, most ignored them. Ray had another gripe.
"Hey blondie, where's my book?" Ray pushed through the crowd until she was face to face with the nun dressed Yume.
"Ah it's you, wait hold on a sec…" Yume dragged out a purse and fished through it, "I've been meaning to give it back to ya, ah her' it iz." She pulled the book from within the pale pink purse. "It was a good read, thanks for lettin' me borrow it."
"Yeah no problem… What are these two goons doing out of jail anyways?" Though they may have worn Catholic priests outfits, the two with Yume were clearly T-Bone and Dove.
"Community service." Dove stated with that effeminate voice he had. "We got a work release, and now we work in a charity."
Ray's face was a mix of annoyance, disbelief and anger. "Is the charity your bank accounts?"
"No, we run The Church of the Sun." T-Bone cackled.
"So yes." Ray sighed in defeat. "Well if the city is stupid enough to let you free who am I to argue with bureaucracy? I need to finish my errands. Can you stay out of trouble Blondie? I like having people around to discuss books with, and something tells me you aren't half as stupid as your taste in men implies."
"Hey!" Yume yelled after her, but Ray had disappeared into the crowd. "How are we supposed to talk about books if ya just scram like that?"
"I don't think that was what she was trying to get at Yume." Dove half laughed at the indignation Yume showed. Soon the three had plenty of donations and went back to their hideout.
"Hopefully this is enough to fulfill the boss' next plan." T-Bone was having fun counting the "donations''.
"If not, we can fleece the crowds again. They seem to be loving this." Dove put rubber bands around what had been counted.
As Roger was driving back from the coroner's office, having decided to question the ME about how his client had committed suicide, he was passed by a number of howizter tanks and police vehicles. Over the police scanner radio a shout from dispatch relayed that a giant robot had appeared at the JFK mark outside of the city limits.
Roger turned the Griffin around and set off for a way to get to the JFK mark that wouldn't cross the military police again. The JFK mark was a building containing broken machines and ships that no one alive now remembered who controlled them, why, or for what purpose. Most of the markings on the ships left behind were just model numbers. But, as no one remembered what those model numbers represented, it did anyone but Paradigms Historical Artifacts society any good. The other machines had been turned to scrap over time and nothing but rust and jagged metal remained. In fact, the name JFK mark was because those three letters had been left behind on the asphalt at that site.
At the JFK Mark abandoned airport, a bandaged Megadeus stood atop a landlocked and broken ship, resting on the smokestack of what had once been a military frigate. Its pilot, if the person really was such, was also enshrouded in dirty and worn out bandages. Arms crossed, surveying the Military police held at a distance by the gates some many miles away, he waited for his opponent. He didn't have long to wait, for soon the Black Megadeus, Paradigm City's protector burst forth from the pavement below.
"It's the Megadeus. Of course he would show up." Dan Dastun watched, hoping it would end quickly and that damage could be kept out of the city proper. Dastun would get his wish.
Roger got out of the cockpit to confront Schwarzwald, who stood atop the bandaged mummy of a giant robot. "Schwarzwald! Where the hell did you find that thing?"
"Hello again, Paradigm City lapdog. It's so good to see you again. And now that you're here we can finally begin the lesson on how to properly use it!" Schwarzwald disappeared into the bandages, and Roger hopped back into the pilots seat.
Back at the fences miles away from the combat scene Dastun could only rub his temple scars in exasperation. He lowered the goggles he had been using to see that far away. "Did anyone get a look at his face?
"No sir, he was too far away." A lieutenant stated.
"Figures." But I can't help thinking that the pilot looked like a certain someone I know. "Could it be? Nah stop worrying about that right now." Dastun began to focus on the fight that was unfolding.
The bandaged giant jumped from the top of the landlocked ship's smokestack. Big O got into a defensive position right as the bandaged giant took a swing at it. "Why does it let you be the master Roger Smith?"
"What?" Schwarzwald's voice came through one of the speakers in the cockpit. The channels must be on the same frequency. "What do you mean why?" Roger made Big O take a step back so he could wind up the pile driver.
"It lets you control it, does it not? So answer me! Why does a chariot of mankind choose to let a false protector like you control it?" Schwarzwald gave no quarter, and followed Roger a step forward in his machine.
"False protector? Well at least I'm not trying to destroy the city!" Roger took the swing, knowing it was too close and would cause some damage to him as well. I need to get this mad man to back off. The hit connected and Schwarzwald's machine did back off, which also allowed Big O enough time to step back for his next attack. Big O's chest cavity opened, and a volley of missiles shot out towards his opponent, only to be blocked by the presumed Megadeus' own arms going up as a shield. Roger fired up Big O's laser eyes, but found himself stopped by an unlikely attack.
"I know that trick too, Negotiator!" And the bandaged Megadeus responded in kind. The two iron giants fired their lasers at the same time, and the collision resulted in a magnificently blinding flash of light. Even though Roger was behind a red glass dome and an orange thick glass shield of Big O's neck, he still had to look away. By the time the light died off and it was safe for him to look out of the cockpit, Schwarzwald and the bandaged Megadeus had long since disappeared. Big O put his hand out to catch something, as a strip of the dirty rag drifted from above.
"Where did he go?" Roger could only look at the sky outside Big O's cockpit and wonder. Did it fly away? Is that possible? He maneuvered Big O back to the crater he had come from, and the two went home.
A few days later, the Saturday before the second Sunday of the month, a forecast was printed in the papers and went out over the radio and TV stations that for the first time in 40 years, on Sunday they would have clear skies in the morning to early afternoon. "Look for clear skies and no clouds." The cheery female forecaster had said. A strange mood gripped the city, as though the song had cast a spell. Of course the three boneheads of Beck's milked it for all it was worth.
"Now people, let us welcome the angel together!" T-Bone riled up the crowd so Dove and Yume could collect donations.
Back at their hideout Yume told Beck over the phone how they had been doing donation wise. "Here's today's donations Beck…" Yume laughed hysterically, "Blind faith is a beautiful thing."
"That appeal to unity you did was great too, or so Dove told me, what'd you say to get 'em dropping cash like that?"
"If everyone contributes in unity together then surely the angel will descend upon us." Yume went from her pious speech into another fit of laughter. "Yeah right! And nothing says unity like a big donation. People sure are loose with their money when they think they're bribing an angel."
"That weather forecast was a great idea too. That Angel sure has blessed us." But I wonder what her scheme is? Ah well, what're they gonna do to me? I was in jail when it all went down. Beck may have been grateful to the double agent, but he had learned never to trust her ilk.
The next day the Military Police were dealing with the massive crowd of followers outside the Dome's as the parishioners followed the three schemers up to the top of the largest open parking garage around. The whole time the crowd sang the fallen songstress hymn.
"This is squad C, the flood of people is endless!" Called a fearful 2nd Lieutenant over the radio.
"We're going to the roof, we shall welcome the angel there!" T-Bone used a megaphone to be heard over the crowd.
"Too many excited people. This could get ugly." Dastun rarely showed surprise, he'd been on the beat too long. But in this case a potential riot always got his adrenaline going. "I've got a bad feeling about this."
The parishioners kept singing as they went to the top of the parking garage, filling it to the brim. On top of a car he had somehow managed to clamber atop of, T-Bone yelled down to the gathering, "United believers!" He shouted, "A new day dawns! This miraculous day let us welcome the angel together! Let's show our unity together and..."
He was drowned out by the crowd as the clouds began to clear on the broken cityscape and dusty disused buildings below. "Look..."
A winged shadowy figure began to descend with a whirr of it's blades. "It's… the angel?" T-Bone and Dove looked surprised before Yume realized what had happened.
"We gotta scram boys, that's no angel!" She whispered in their ears and the three, slowly pushed through the throng of excited believers to make good their escape. That shadowy figure was mechanical in nature, red, gray, gold. Yume might not have been the brightest girl around, but she knew a Megadeus when she saw one.
"It's the angel! Please save us, please!" The crowd became excited and shouted with all their collective might.
"It's really coming down." The MP below could only look up at the figure from the heavens. The crowd's delight turned to fear in an instant as the "angel" landed directly in the middle of them on the roof, crushing many beneath it's metal tonnage. "Help. Please! Why?" The shouts for help dimmed by the hundreds as blood and viscera dripped from the roof and those not immediately killed in the blast fell to their dooms below. Those on lower levels ran for their lives while being covered in the remains of those from above.
"You absolute fools." The pilot of the 'angel' cackled as it rose again above the carnage of it's making.
"The angel just…" The MP below were stunned to be sure.
"That's not an angel!" Dastun yelled before barking orders. "Get the survivors to shelter now! Squad D being…"
"Uh Major, the angel just took off." A now shaken lieutenant pointed towards the sky. The red Megadeus took off from the roof, blowback scattering and harming survivors. "How are we supposed to fight a flying monster like that?"
Dastun, for the first time in many years, could only look on in fright and anger. Frightened by a new type of Megadeus, but anger because once again, the MP would have to rely on it.
On the street below, the three henchmen had stopped and looked back, "Beck said to duck out, but…" Dove stammered.
"But I never expected that." T-Bone finished.
"What is that thing anyways?" Yume asked. "How can a Megadeus fly?"
In his cockpit above the gathered masses, Schwarzwald starts monologuing to himself. "40 years ago… Something changed the world! I'll show you the power that did it!" He bagan cackling like the madman he was. "Meet the Big Duo! And there they are!"
Below, far enough away from the parking garage, and further towards the desert, Big O burst forth from the ground. As his orange glass crown rose from the ground the crowd running in that direction turned tail and ran in another direction. "The other "Big" thing, and Roger Smith!"
In the cockpit, the familiar and comforting to its pilot message scrolled across the center screen. Cast in the name of God… Ye Not Guilty! "Action!" Roger called out as he took the controls that swung down and the joysticks came forth to its master's call.
"Schwarzwald! These machines are…" Roger could only be shocked himself. He had suspected it could fly, but to have it confirmed here, and during a massacure no less.
On the pavement below the MP tried their best to move people away from the soon to be battlefield. "Those rumors of angels!" Dastun could only gripe, while moving people away, what else was there to do? "The Black Megadeus, and the red Megadeus. They're angels of destruction!" He yelled as he shouted to his men to hurry up.
On a building nearby, the human fallen Angel watched the two giants of metal duke it out. Big Duo fell from the sky at Big O, who raised his fists to meet the challenger head on, a loud clang could be heard at the shin of Big Duo slammed into Big O's raised shield arm. The force of the impact sent Big O to the ground, landing on it's back with Big Duo's feet on either side of his waist. "Urg." Roger was thankful he'd thought to strap on his restraint belts for once, but the impact into the seat was still uncomfortable.
Schwarzwald laughed in his cockpit and set off the lazer eyes, thinking to make quick work of his fallen gigantic opponent. "Feast upon this!"
"Oh no, the black Megadeus." A few of the MP men had stopped ordering the civilians away and had turned to spectate the combatants. Though they knew Dastun would be annoyed with them being fans of it, most saw the Big as a protector.
Roger maneuvered Big O's fist into place to take the attack, damaging the joints of Big O's fingers in the process. Realizing that it wouldn't work, Schwarzwald took off and fired a volley of missiles from the two twin holes in his chest. Big O responded in kind with his own return volly. However two missed being taken out, and zoomed past Big O's crystalline glass crown to detonate in buildings behind.
"Arg! Get those people to cover!" Dastun yelled at his gawking subordinates.
"Major." A lieutenant came up to him. "Sir! About those reinforcements…"
"The crowd's panicking, we need those men, where are they?"
"Uh, well sir…"
"They're not coming?! How are we to deal with two Megadeuses and these panic-stricken masses!? I don't care what the chief says, do it on my authority!" Dastun shouted at the young lieutenant to be heard over the din of combat.
"Th-that's not the problem sir!"
"You mean… the company is stopping us?"
"Yes sir."
In a dark room in the Main Dome, the chairman was giving orders. "The area outside the domes are out of their jurisdiction anyway. No need to waste precious resources there." He was speaking to a white gilded phone. "Besides, Major Dastun is used to this sort of thing, let him deal with it." Alex Rosewater hung up the phone and watched the little black and white monitor. "Now then, let's see what this power of old really is." Behind him, an empty hanger sat, waiting.
Outside of the Domes below, Big Duo flew circles around Big O, taunting both him and pilot. "Do you understand Roger Smith! What are we piloting! For what purpose were they made? Why did the city lose it's memories!? Do you understand now! Roger Smith!"
"Schwarzwald!" Roger was getting tired of the madman's speeches.
"It's so very clear! These are vehicles of the gods! Only the chosen can pilot them!" Big Duo slammed it's feet into an upright Big O again before landing on the ground, inside Big Duo, the message that had scrolled across Big O's own cockpit screens earlier now did the same. Cast in the name of God… Ye Not Guilty! "And this power was created for only one purpose! Destruction!"
Standing a the feet the fallen black Megadeus Big Duo sent yet another missile volley directly into Big O, all the while the mummified burnt pilot monologues on, "The divine power was unleashed," He grinned menacingly, "and it was too much for the city to bare, and all was lost."
A black cloud of smoke obscured Big O, but Roger was less than amused. "Is that the best you can do?"
"What?" Big O's legs pulled in towards his torso, and then the feet kicked out, connecting with the flying Megadeus, sending him flying into a building with tumultuous rumbling as concrete and steel beams gave way.
"You call that an answer!" Roger shouted, finally losing his cool, his usually slicked back hair a ruffled mess, "If this city lost everything 40 years ago because of your power, why are we here now?"
On the streets below, Dorothy traced her way through the carnage, keeping a promise she had made to Roger some days ago. I'm not sure what, but I know Angel is up to something, if you see her find out what. Rogers' distrust of the woman had grown thanks to a rumor she was helping some unsavory criminals. In Big O's cockpit, Roger continued his assault on Schwarzwald's answer.
"If you're right then none of us should be here." Big O rose to his feet again, "It's true the Paradigm City is imperfect. The memories of this city and its people are incomplete." The metallic black giant took a step forward, crushing the pavement underneath, "But so what?"
Big O moved with Roger's pedal manipulation and rushed forwards, "That's not the real problem." Big Duo took off before Roger could connect."The city, you and I, these Megadeus and machines still exist." Big O moved forward and grabbed Big Duo's legs, "Whatever happened in the past, we're here today," he swung Big Duo down onto the ground with a crash, "And there will be a tomorrow, with or without or memories!"
Roger pulled the joystick back, flipped the cap off the pile drivers button, and sent the arm forward, "The citizens of Paradigm have to keep moving forward, if we stop we'll become ghosts, like you!" As the fist was about to connect to Big Duo's face, Schwarzwald activated the jets and sent Big Duo to the side, forcing Big O to miss and send the pile driver into the street.
With that the red Duo got up and took off running, but not before the end of Roger's own monologue reached it, "And ghosts have no place in this world!" Roger got Big O on his feet, turned and attempted to swing at the fleeing Megadeus, which was still ground bound. But before he could, Big Duo was up in the air.
"You're right, Roger Smith, this city does exist, this is true. But so do the Big Duo and I! Just look down here!" The shins and knees of Big Duo separated, revealing even bigger missiles. "Yes, let all the city's inhabitants bear witness to the final act of drama that began 40 years ago!"
"Schwarzwald no!" Roger screeched at the madman in vain. That will kill everyone below! Dorothy and Dastun are down there too you mummified freak! Dammit I have no choice but to use that!
"Witness the moment of truth Roger Smith!" And with that, Scwarzwald flipped the cap on his own joysticks. As the missiles went sailing towards the crowd, Schwarzwald gleefully, menacingly cheered the destruction forward, "I'll show you the biggest power of them all! And the world will finally be as it should be! In its proper state!" But something below caught the madmans still working eye, "What?"
Smoke rose from the ends of Big O's arms, where the hands should have been, the hands now redirected the deadly payload back at it's master. "It cannot end like this!" A flash of light filled the sky, and the red Megadeus was gone.
In the cockpit Roger sat back exhausted. That fight had gone on for the better part of an hour. "That poor reporter." But why do I feel like I haven't heard the end of him?
"The sky, it's clear." The surviving citizens below scanned the skies above for any sign of the angel that had tried to off them, and seeing no sign of it heaved a collective sigh of relief. "Look, it's the sun! The sun did rise again!" The crowd for the first time in four decades, felt the warmth of the sun's kiss on their exposed faces.
In the cockpit Roger related orders for Big O to startback home, but was ruminating on what had been said before. "The way the world should be, Big O and Big Duo…"
In the repair bay office Norman sent off emails to associates for the needed parts for Big O's repairs, Ray was close by getting tools ready for the work to be done that night. And in that dark office in the Main Dome, a rather happy but still cynical expression crossed Alex's usually sour features. "I've finally seen the light thanks to you two, Mr Reporter and Negotiator."
On the streets, while Big O disappeared into the ground, and the Military delivered aid to the survivors, a fallen angel and a curious android finally had their first face to face discussion.
"So he sent you to follow me?"
"He doesn't trust you."
"And you don't either?" Dorothy didn't even dignify that question with a response. "Well it doesn't matter. You're wise not too. What about the little lost one with you? Has she revealed anything new? I'm rather curious to hear about that."
"Ray refuses to tell us anything, but I believe we both have the same suspicions of her hiding something." Dorothy wasn't sure why she even told the pink clad woman that, but she couldn't lie either.
"I see. Well if you think that it's likely true." Angel shoved her hands in her pockets. "Au revoir then Dorothy. Maybe one day the two of us can sit down to have a nice chat." With that Angel left, the wind wiping her hair left down.
I hope not. I hate that… ok Ray has been a terrible influence and I almost thought of an awful word. No, I did think about it. How frustrating these two women are. Dorothy headed home, her work here was long finished.
It had been two weeks since the "Angel" incident and was towards the end of what had been an eventful starting month to the year, and Roger had suddenly been called by the head of Paradigm Corporation for a job. While Roger disliked the chairman immensely, he did need the money for Big O's repairs, especially after using so many missiles in his last encounter with Schwarzwald. Replacing Big O's hands had taken priority after Roger had sacrificed them to protect all those innocents Schwarzwald had targeted, and they we're on the way. But the chairman had a strange request for Roger.
"He wants me to bring Ray?" Roger had to have heard that wrong.
"Indeed, his secretary was very insistent that she be brought along." Norman was walking behind Roger as the two went up to the penthouse to find the young woman reading whatever she had found interesting as of late.
"This is going to be a fight that neither of us wants." Roger felt a headache coming on. He knew Ray would probably try to avoid it, and he didn't blame her. He hated meeting with the chairman himself.
"I suspect so." Norman could only voice an agreement. It was unlikely Ray would be happy about this.
The two found her exactly where they expected Ray to be. Reading in the lounge while Dorothy played piano. Before long the conversation would devolve into a fight, and Ray's desperate struggle to stay away from the Main Dome.
"There is no way I am going! You can't make me." Ray tried to physically escape to her room in the hopes of barricading herself within.
"I'm not thrilled about this either Ray, but is it really a good idea to not go?" Roger was trying to block Ray's escape.
"Do you really think it's a good idea for a smart mouthed jackass to ruin your reputation?" Ray shot back, and then shot herself over the railing and landed on the floor below, rather gracefully given she didn't exactly plan that out. That… could've ended badly. Oh well run! Ray took off for her room.
Roger sighed in frustration before rubbing his face in exasperation. "Why did I know it would end up like this?" Since being stalked a few months ago Ray had avoided the Main Dome and anything directly run by the Paradigm company. Roger had thought better than to ask about it, but figured she just had a distaste for the company that he did. Maybe he should have asked her why instead.
"I'll get her." Dorothy jumped down the stairs after Ray, landing with a thud and zipping off after the erant teen.
Ray was almost in the clear. She knew Norman wasn't going to chase her in the house, but she didn't count on her mechanical buddy chasing her down. "Almost… Guh!" The grutal noise escaped her throat as she was yanked backwards by her collar. "Ow! Dammit Dorothy let go of me. Wait no, don't drag me back, let go!"
"I'll let go once you're belted in the car." Dorothy dragged her to the elevator where Roger and Norman were waiting. Roger already had his winter long coat on, and Norman was holding a nicer jacket than she typically wore for Ray.
"Traitor! How can you throw me under the bus like this?" Ray kept struggling against the super strength grip Dorothy possessed.
"You'll be fine." Dorothy threw her in front of Norman, who handed her the jacket.
"We don't know that. That bastard was having employees stalk me a few months ago!" Ray ignored it, and tried to weasel her way out again, but she was cornered.
"How do you even know it was him?" Roger shook his head at Ray's outburst with confusion.
"Well who else could it be?"
"Your family?" Ray gave Roger an 'Are you stupid?' look.
"Oh yeah, sure, the family that lives far away? With no way to contact me? Would just… stalk me instead of dropping by and saying hi if they were in the city." She had turned on her angry sarcasm. Ray rarely used it, but on occasion her tongue was sharper than Dorothy's, and crueler too.
"They could be respecting your privacy."
"Were your foster parents messed up or something? Who does that?" Ray was still being sarcastic, but had a drop of concern in her tone. Ray swiped the jacket from Norman's hands and put it on quickly. "Fine, since you seem to want to torture me I guess I'll have to go with you. But don't be shocked if I piss myself with fear. Or faint."
"Quit being dramatic and get in the Griffon, Ray." Dorothy was getting fed up with her, she knew. But had their places been switched Ray was almost certain Dorothy would have high tailed it out of the house and to the nearest underground hiding place she could find. And Ray wouldn't have bothered to track her down until the danger had passed.
"Yeah yeah." Ray waved away the complaint as she rode the elevator down with Roger to the Griffon. Soon the two were alone, and Roger, not reading the air, started interrogating Ray.
"Was it really necessary?"
"I felt like my life was in danger and ran for it. Too bad I didn't get far enough, or count on Dorothy to drag me back." Ray stared out the window as the city went by. She was rarely, if ever, alone with Roger. Usually because Dorothy butted in. Too bad she didn't come along. For once it would have been welcomed. She probably hates that place too though.
"I'm a little surprised she did too."
"I'm not."
"Oh?" Roger took a peek over at Ray, but she was still staring out the window. Her reflection was melancholy however, which was unlike her.
"She loves to see me squirm. What better chance was she going to get than forcing me to go with you on a job?"
"I wish you two would get along. My life would be so much easier if you did." Roger couldn't help frowning. The two teens that lived with him, and that blonde bombshell calling herself Angel. The three had a habit of messing with him, and he didn't always want such attention.
"We get along just fine. This was just a free pass for her to enjoy my suffering."
"I find that hard to believe."
"Well were we fighting when you and Norman came to get me?"
"No, but you weren't exactly having a lively discussion either." As he spoke Roger pulled onto the overpass that would take them all the way to the Main Dome.
"That's just how we are. We don't need to talk to understand each other, not much anyways. Besides, when we do talk it's usually at night when you and Norman are asleep. She's the only one up I can talk about my nightmares with. And I'll admit she's a good listener." Ray finally turned from the window as the Main Dome towered over them as they moved closer to the hulk of glass and steel and mechanical parts. As they pulled inside all the offices on either side went by before the Griffon pulled into the parking garage at the base of the Central Office. As Ray got out she concluded, "We also have nice discussions about the books she borrows from me now. But again, you and Norman are usually working."
Roger locked the Griffin before responding, "Well, if you say so. But can you two try and get along during the day? Oh, don't get too far from me, the Main Dome's Central Office can be a maze. You don't want to get lost here." Ray nodded an affirmative, and followed Roger up to the train platform that would take them straight to the top office.
"Ray, before we go in, I want you to know that it's perfectly fine if you don't want to say anything. You can just keep quiet and stay close." Ray nodded again. When he peered down at her she seemed like a small child. Her jaw was clenched tight, eyes glazed over. She looked like a terrified girl instead of the 'smart mouthed jackass' she had called herself almost an hour ago. Roger straightened his long coat before pushing the door open.
Once in the office, the two were invited to stand in front of the desk at the bottom of the dias stairs. When they stood in front of him the chairman, Alex Rosewater stood up and began talking to them. "Well now Mr. Smith, as I am sure you are aware, I asked you here to negotiate with a former employee."
"That's what I was told, can you give me more details? Who is the employee you want me to negotiate with?"
"A former employee of the company refused to take his severance pay, I'd like you to handle the arbitration, Roger. A Mr. Micheal Seebach. I believe you may have met him before." Rogers brow furrowed at Alex's words. Met was an understatement. "Your previous reports stated that he was deceased."
"Are you saying I was mistaken?"
"Oh, I'm not asking you to take responsibility or anything. It's just that you can't refuse this job, am I right?"
"You mean there would be a penalty?" Roger's brows furrowed, he rather disliked dealing with this man.
"Not at all. I would like you to give him his severance check and have him know his employment is terminated as soon as he has signed the check."
Alex Rosewater wrote out an exorbitant amount on the check, signed it and had Angel, acting as a secretary, hand it over to Roger. When she did Angel took a short glance at Ray, it was a rather level expression given the circumstances.
Sigh, I knew I hadn't heard the last of that crazy bastard. A man can dream however. Roger looked at the exceedingly high amount, and asked, "Is this a joke? All this just for a severance check? Certainly a letter of termination would have cost far less."
"Am I expected to explain my reasons to you? Very well then, for argument's sake I may as well. He has refused such letters in the past, and is difficult to get ahold of, thus the need for your assistance Mr. Smith. Make sure he gets it, I don't care what methods you use." Alex feigned the need to fix his blazer before fixing Ray with a rather, well in her mind it was a disgusting smile laden with malice and ill intent. "So this is the assistant of yours that can supposedly make machines give up their secrets, if I have heard correctly. I would be interested in interviewing her privately if she would be of a mind to do so."
The creepy smile Alex fixed on Ray sent a shiver down her spine, and without realizing it her hand reached out for the back of Roger's coat. "Please refrain from speaking to my employee in that way, Mr. Rosewater. It was difficult enough to convince her to come to a meeting in which she would not be alone."
Did he just clap back for me? Oh wow he did. Ray's opinion of Roger wasn't bad, not by a long shot, but that act of speaking in her defense made him seem just that much kinder. Which was a trait she felt he lacked. Angel also seemed to be taken aback by Roger's outburst, but just as quickly shocked returned to a level of professionalism.
"If that's all, I'll be taking this check with me, and I would like half my payment upfront for this job." Rosewater agreed with Roger's request and gave him half his payment then and there.
Soon Roger and Ray had retreated from the office and headed back to the train cars that spun round the towering office complex, allowing employees to traverse from floor to floor. "You alright Ray?"
"Yeah. Why'd you stand up for me like that?"
Roger couldn't help but laugh. "Did you not need me to?"
"No, I did. I'm just a little surprised."
"I'm not heartless Ray. I am a gentleman, and a gentleman always helps a woman who is in trouble." Ray couldn't help laughing at him, he sounded so serious and yet to Ray it sounded melodramatic.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't laugh." A thin but more relaxed smile graced her features. "Well now that that's over can I convince you to drop me at a bookstore?"
"There's one on the way, and I need to pay a visit to Big Ear." The tram car arrived and the two boarded it with all the other employees headed down.
Back in the office of Alex Rosewater, he was looking like a sleazy letch to Angel, sneering as he was. "So that's what she's like."
"Sir?"
"The girl that my father seems so obsessed with. She's little more than a lost lamb clinging to the negotiator for solace. My father really has gone senile. There's little special about her at this point. The rumors of her hearing the chariots of mankind are likely just that." With that the sleazy smile disappeared and he moved onto his next meeting.
If that's what he believes about Ray then she should be safe for now. I hope. She doesn't deserve what this mad bastard has in mind for her. Angel could only hope she was right. Angel wanted Ray's memories for her people, and for some reason had come to develop a fondness for her brash attitude. Maybe because had she not been scared she would've verbally ripped Alex a new one. I would pay to watch that.
Roger drove home after visiting the Speakeasy with Ray in tow, but Big Ear didn't have anything for him. He had dropped Ray a few blocks away and she went off to the bookstore, getting back to the Speakeasy after about half an hour in the store carrying a stack of books in a language he didn't know. "Going to explain that?"
"Uh… I know Japanese. Did Norman not tell you?" The stack of books looked like comic books to Roger.
"He knew?" Roger just shrugged as he opened the car and the two got in.
"Yeah he made me list just about everything that could be useful on the job. Languages, technical skills, practical skills." Ray set the books on the floor at her feet and buckled in, "He wanted to know what all I could do. I think Dorothy knows too, she's seen the list. … Did he really not say anything?"
"No. But I'll have a look at it when I get back." Once back Roger did give the list a once-over, and other than knowing a foreign language only spoken in a few areas of the city nothing else was of note. He soon went up to the rooftop patio.
Roger laid atop one of the arches on his rooftop patio, staring up at the ever cloudy sky of Paradigm city, lost in his thoughts and remembering his earlier encounter with Schwarzwald. What was it about the pyromaniac that got under Rogers' skin? He wasn't sure, but all the same something about the fight bothered him. Since it was decent weather for a wintery day Roger had left his blazer inside and had loosened his suspenders as he rested on the cold marble.
"Roger, you have a telephone call." Dorothy called up to him. When he didn't respond she called again. "Roger?"
"Do you think it's alive and flying around out there Dorothy?"
"What is?"
"Nevermind." Roger jumped down from the arch and pulled his suspenders up before heading inside. Dorothy stared up at the clouds, unsure of what he had meant.
"What was that Angel?" Roger had picked up the receiver to find the blonde bombshell was on the line. He was a little surprised Dorothy hadn't simply hung up on her, given the two's mutual animosity.
"I just thought I would let you know where he is." On the other end of the line Angel puffed away at a cigarette.
"Seebach?"
"No Schwarzwald."
Roger pulled the receiver from his face, looked at it in confusion and realized Angel couldn't possibly see that, "How do you know about him?"
Dorothy stood silently partway down the spiral staircase, listening to the conversation. Soon Roger left, going off to where Angel had indicated he would be. And Ray left her book on the table, went to her room and seemed to be getting ready for something.
Dorothy couldn't find Ray anywhere in the house, so she went to the hangar to see if Big O had seen her, much to her surprise, Ray was knitting something while sitting in the command chair. "Why are you in here? I can't imagine this is a comfortable place to knit."
"No, but it's the only place in the city I don't have to hear that flying Megadeus." Ray didn't look up from her work and kept stitching away, a little ball of yarn in her lap.
"Is that what Roger was referring to earlier?" Dorothy cocked her head in confusion. How had Ray known about it still being alive as Roger put it?
"Hm? I guess, was he asking about it?"
"Yes." Dorothy paused as she continued to stare at a seemingly vexed Ray. "If Roger requires Big O you will have to move, and will probably make a mess."
"Yeah. I'll just grab my yarn and jump out if I have to." Ray's needles clicked and clacked as she focused on her work. "Does Big O have a radio by any chance?"
"Save for the police scanners I do not believe he does."
"That's disappointing." Ray sighed, "I was hoping if I was stuck here I could at least have some music." She felt Big O was amused at her dismay. "Does my suffering entertain you Big O? You're no less agitated by that thing." She felt he was in agreement, at least somewhat.
"Why can you not hear the flying Megadeus here in Big O?"
"No clue. I think he's tuning him out because he doesn't like the other guy."
"It's male?"
"Yes. So far all the ones we've run into are." Ray shrugged.
"What is he saying?" Dorothy couldn't hear this one so far, but it had annoyed both Roger and Big O, and now Ray could be added to that list.
"A lot of nonsense when he does speak, but his presence is overwhelming. I also get the sense he's lonely and doesn't like his pilot." Ray looked perturbed, like she wanted to forget everything about what she had been hearing. "Was there a reason you were looking for me?"
"Norman and I could not find you, and it is nearly time to begin dinner preparations."
"Ah, well tell him I'm a little… indisposed."
"I'll tell him you are preoccupied."
"Thanks." Ray went back to whatever she was making now.
As Dorothy left the hanger she could not help but feel perplexed, if that was even the right term. Ray could hear the flying Megadeus, but Dorothy couldn't? Ray was human, at least she bled and needed everything else a human did. So why is she able to hear them?
Not much later Ray would be forced out of Big O's cockpit by Norman, and she helped him with Big O's maintenance, as the replacement hands had finally arrived. Afterwards Ray went to put on her jacket, left her communicator watch on her nightstand, and made to leave when Dorothy, wearing her own winter coat stopped her.
"Where are you going?"
"Out. Do you want a ride to wherever Roger was headed?"
"Do you know where he went?"
"No, but I'm sure you do since you were eavesdropping. Want a ride or not?" Ray took her helmet off it's peg in the garage, slipped it on, revered her bike and waited for Dorothy to hop on behind her. Dorothy slipped nimbly onto the small second rider seat, and wrapped her arms around Ray's torso.
"Your heart beat is elevated." Dorothy stated matter of factly. "Why?"
"Uh, well, can't help but think Norman will kill me if I have a crash and you're with me." Ray was driving down the streets of Paradigm at a leisurely pace taking directions as Dorothy relayed them. No reason to race to the next Big fight in her mind.
"Norman would likely be more concerned for you than you realize. I can be repaired, but a human takes a long time to heal."
"True, but you're like the favorite daughter. I'm just some street rat he dragged in."
Like a favorite daughter? "But he thinks of you as his child too…" Dorothy's response was lost to the void as Ray sped up on the highway to keep pace with traffic.
Patricia Lovejoy… A fallen Angel using that name had risen out of nowhere to become Alex Rosewater's secretary. So I can see why she called me and gave me that tip. But how does she know Schwarzwald?
Roger went to the large hotel where he would find Schwarzwald. A man at the door handed him a mask as he went looking in his breast pocket for an ID. "No need for an invitation. Everyone is welcome, there is just one rule for this party, you must wear this mask. Now please, enjoy yourself."
The mask was half black half white bisected down the middle. Roger just held onto it as he made his way around the party. Various revelers drank, ate, danced and other typical rowdy activities. Soon a jester clad man zipped down a vine upside down, wearing the same mask as everyone else. "Welcome, Paradigm Dog." The jester was Schwarzwald, and he hopped down and danced merrily in front of Roger.
"Is this ruckus supposed to be a victory party? I haven't lost to you yet." Roger was annoyed.
"That's not what this is, I just wanted you to see this." He gestured around the room, where drunk women danced on tables with revelers jeering her on, men filled their plates with food, drank themselves into a stupor, passed out and pissed themselves with the booze bottle close by. "This is the reality of the corrupt city that you're trying to protect.
"I think there's been some misunderstanding. I'm a negotiator and was just hired to give you this." Roger handed the exorbitant check over to him.
"Hm… hrm? That man is a real piece of work!" Schwarzwald clicked his finger, it came alight, and he burnt the check.
"I just handed over your severance check. Burning it was entirely your decision." Well I made sure he got it, can this madness end now?
"No, it's this corrupt city that will burn!" Schwarzwald did his weird little dance again. "These false skies called Domes are useless in this world! Everyone must learn the truth of what happened 40 years ago! And that's what I'm doing to do!"
"Huh? Was that not what you tried before?" Roger had a bad feeling about this.
"With the Big Duo I will succeed this time!"
"Big Duo?" Oh not again! I thought I destroyed it. With a cynical laugh Schwarzwald clicked his fingers, and the faces of those who wore their masks came alight with fire, screams resounded throughout the room, people threw themselves from windows not able to see with their faces ablaze in the inferno the mad mummy had created. "What are you doing you insane bastard!"
Running through a now open window Schwarzwald discarded his costume and shouted as he fell, "Come at once, Big Duo!" The red Big fell from the sky through a pane of Dome glass shattering it.
"Gr… Big O, Showtime!" Rumbling from below, Big O shot up through the now ruined hotel and party, which had thankfully been empty save for revelers. A couple in the glass elevator freaked out as Big Duo rose into the sky, and then the hotel shook as Big O came out of the top. Roger stood above it's closed fist. Soon he was lowered inside, and the familiar and comforting message scrolled across the screen. Cast in the name of God… Ye Not Guilty! "Action!" Roger called out as he took the controls that swung down and the joysticks came forth to its master's call.
"There it is, the other Big. This time, I'll finish you off for good. Two Bigs is one to many. Big Duo, it's showtime!" As Schwarzwald maneuvered Big Duo around the cramped skys of the Dome it flew past a window with the chairman standing in wait. The wings clipped the glass, shattering it, but the glass did not fall.
"I wonder what sort of show I'll be given today. Make it a good one for me won't you Mr. Negotiator." Alex Rosewater sneered at the two combatants before being led away by the head of the Military Police.
In Big O's cockpit, the screen to the right of the center lit up, and Norman appeared. "Master Roger, it really pains me to say this…"
"Keep it short Norman." Roger jumped down from the building and set about making an aerial assault.
"I still haven't replaced the ammunition you used up in the last fight."
"You mean I'm unarmed?" Looking at the red Megadeus coming to divebomb him, Roger knew what would happen if he wasn't fast. "I'll come up with something."
Dastun had started the evacuations, "Move it men, I'm not going to let 'em have a fire fight in the Dome!"
Big Duo was closing in on Big O. "Dammit! At this range I can try…" Big O set off his laser eyes at the Big Duo, but it nimbly dodged to the side and hit the glass behind.
"What a mess, what's the black Megadeus doing?" Dastun grabbed his face before yelling at his men to get a move on. In the background Schwarzwald's Big Duo came at Roger and Big O, firing off his own laser eyes, but they only hit Big O's shields as Roger raised his arms in time.
"All right, then?" He hated using it, but he used the pile driver in Big O's arms to send an air blast, thinking it would knock the Big Duo off course. It didn't but it was worth a shot.
"You're wasting your time! Have you no fangs Paradigm dog? First you try to protect a corrupt city, and then you take a demon woman under your wing." Big Duo swooped down to lay on the laser effect, but it didn't do anything.
"Demon woman? Who are you talking about, homicidal mummy?" Roger sent off an anchor at Big Duo with intent to drag him down and missed.
"The one claiming to be human!"
"You really are insane. Ray's just a teenage girl, moody as hell, but she's a very much a human teenage girl." Roger dodged the Big Duo's finger rotors as the Big went past him, dodging to the left on a wide intersection.
Big Duo circled down, swooped low and laid into Roger with a missile assault. Failing to hurt the Big O, Schwarzwald went for the killing blow, revealing the larger guided knee missiles hadn't been entirely depleted in their last fight. "I think it's about time I finished this!"
"I guess I couldn't come up with anything? Huh?" Roger suddenly had an idea.
"And now you die!" He set the missiles on their way, but noticed Big O in a defensive stance, "You insist on embarrassing yourself even in death? Show some dignity and go to your grave!"
The blast was so massive that when it landed in the middle of the Dome a blinding light took over the whole dome, Howitzer units were lifted off their wheels and tossed around like a toddler tantrums after playing with toys, anyone near enough to not get taken in the blast shielded their faces from the blinding flash, and only a massive crater two Megadeus tall and wide was in its place.
Dastun got up off the ground and went to the crater, looking down in disbelief. "Don't tell me the black Megadeus was… that the red Megadeus… It can't have."
In his flying seat above the buildings, Schwarzwald too peered down at the crater. "So not even debris was left? It was totally blown away. Huh?" Something shiny above caught his eye. The Big O, hung by a hip chain from the ceiling.
"Looks like this false sky of yours has given me the chance to win." With that Roger released the hip chain and fell right on top of Big Duo, dragging him earthbound. "The tables have turned!" Ripping Big Duo's right arm off, Roger let Big O have his fun, laying blow after blow into Big Duo's chest, face, but he avoided the cockpit until Big Duo was flat on the ground, and ignoring Schwarzwald's scream, placed Big O's fingers into the chests missile funnels, ripping away the cockpit protection.
"This ends now!" Roger pulled back, opened the piledrivers cap, and slammed it with as much force he could muster, and blew the Big Duo's head off. It shuddered below, and in the cockpit a defeated in both the mental and physical sense, Schwarzwald lamented in the cockpit. When the fighting was done, Big O pulled back, but more surprisingly, Big Duo got up. Big O took a few steps back and let the Megadeus now missing a head and an arm go on it's way.
"Huh?" Schwarzwald realized what was happening and had enough energy left to jump out of the now reanimated Big Duo. The West Dome was a mess, in the center a crater taller than a Megadeus, taking up a number of city blocks the remains of Big Duo tried to drag himself out of the pit. On the ground, a terrified Shwarzwald could only stare at the headless machine."No. It's the same… It's just like what happened that other time… How? How can it move?" The bandages that made the cone of his mask fell backwards in as much confusion as his face. As Schwarzwald watched the spectacle, the Megadeus had dragged itself from the pit with its still attached arm, slowly and surely it had reached the top.
"That's impossible! No one's piloting it!" Dastun also stared into the crater. "Huh? Oh crap move it! Fall back!" Major Dan Dastun yelled at his troops as he himself retreated from the edge of the pit, his men retreated and a large metal hand grabbed the edge of the pavement, pulled itself forward, dragged itself a few more yards out of the pit and quit moving altogether, giving a heavy metal sigh as it died.
"How? Is it possible I was wrong? Do we choose them, or do they choose their masters, Roger Smith?" In the cockpit, unable to hear Schwarzwald's question, Roger stared at the unique sight that was a Megadeus running away and giving up.
On a building a few blocks from the scene Dorothy looked down at the destruction and could only frown. Ray had not bothered to follow her to hear what Big Duo would say, but even then, he was almost as stoic as Big O. Well, perhaps Ray was nearby, but it had seemed like she was less than interested in hearing what Big Duo had to say. Inside the building she lit her headlamp and discovered a recently discarded cigarette in an ashtray, pink lipstick on the mouthpiece. She frowned, knowing that the troublesome woman had called from here earlier. Just how much does she know?
In the old JFK point hanger, a haggard and depressed Schwazwald staggered in. The building, once his lair of hope to arouse the sleeping masses of Paradigm, now lay empty. Or at least it should have. In the center of the hanger a black motorbike with a blue stripe down the side stood, a helmeted figure in a state of repose sitting in front of it, facing the doors, waiting patiently.
The figure roused when Schwarzwald drew closer, likely awoken by the sound of his dragging feet on dirt and sand and old concrete. Looking up, it took off a helmet with the same motif, and smiled.
"Hey Shwarzy. Kept me waiting, you did. Well, that matters not, we need to talk." Ray smiled as her chestnut locks fell from the helmet and formed bouncing loose ringlets.
"You? What is the lapdog's demonic puppet doing here?"
"Now now, you and I both know better than that. And what's with calling me a demon? We've only met twice and didn't even talk last time." Ray stayed seated, it mattered little to her if she was on level with the madman or not.
"Do we now? And what do we know better?"
"That this world is a lie."
"And you believe me?"
"More than anyone else in this world. I know you're telling the truth and just trying to make everyone else see it as well. Too bad you're supposed to die in ignominy."
"I'm to die am I? No, somehow you're probably right. But if you know this world is a lie why do you serve the city's protector and not rip it apart? How are you still sane?" Schwarzwald started and quit his dramatics quickly. He no longer had the vim and vigor to continue.
"Ah, now that's the first real question I have an answer to. It's simple really. I have no choice but to stay with the negotiator thanks to older Rosewater's mandate, and I'm not from this world." Ray gave a wicked smile.
"You! Then what are you? You truly are a demon." Schwarzwald was shocked enough to step back. "Why tell me this? It could ruin you, have you marked as a mad a person as I am."
"Still human, just some poor human that got dragged into another world where she knows how it ends is all." Ray finally stood up and brushed sand from her pants. She was getting restless. "And you won't tell anyone, who would believe you anyways? You've clearly lost your mind."
Schwarzwald nodded his agreement and continued, "Then my visions are true? We're nothing more than meant to be someone else's entertainment? This I cannot stand! I must change the story of this world." He was back to his theatrics.
"Well, I might know of a way, but in either event you'll be dead by the time it happens." Ray put her helmet on the bike seat before stretching. "Are you willing to hear me out?"
"If you know of a way to make this world see the truth, then I shall listen."
In the mansion Dorothy played a forlorn tune on the piano. Ray had yet to return home, and the rumors of androids seeking out and harming humans had somehow disturbed the young android. But her night was about to get incredibly complicated.
"What do you mean you can't find Ray?" Roger came into the penthouse by walking up the spiral staircase, Norman followed behind.
"It's just as I said sir, she left earlier this afternoon on her motorcycle, did not tell me when she intended to return, and I cannot hail her on the communicator watch I know is in her possession." Norman was apparently repeating himself for Roger's benefit.
"She left her watch here." Dorothy finally joined in the conversation.
"She what? Why would Ray do that?" Roger was in disbelief, not even 48 hours ago Alex Rosewater had indirectly threatened her in his presence, Schwazwald called her a demon in their fight today and she just ran off without a way to contact her? Roger had trouble understanding Ray on the best of days, and she sure as hell wasn't making it any easier tonight.
"Why would I do what?" Just then Ray came up the stairs, and looked like she'd been in a tumble of sorts. "Why are you all giving me the side eye? What did I do this time?"
"Ran off without your watch." Dorothy responded.
"You mean Roger's old beat up watch I borrowed without asking?"
"The semantics aren't important right now Ray, the point is you ran off without it." Roger pointed an accusatory finger at her and stepped closer, forcing Ray to take a step back and frown.
"Wasn't aware you would make this big a deal out of me not having it, yeesh." Ray smoothed back her curly frizzy hair, "Why are you making a big deal out of it anyways? It's not like I was in danger."
"You weren't? Even knowing what's happened to you in the last two days?" Roger crossed his arms and started tapping his foot, a rare expression of annoyance from him.
"I highly doubt Rosewater's going to do anything in public against me, and you defeated Kentucky Fried Schwarzwald didn't you?" Ray sighed and shrugged while her face had a grimace of exhaustion on it.
"Excuse me… Kentucky Fried… ok explain, all of that, now."
"No."
"No?" Norman was the one parroting her. It was unlike Ray to give so forceful a response when trying to get out of Roger's never ending questionnaire assault.
"Look Rog, there's literally like… 5 KFC's in the city, if you don't realize I'm making a poorly timed burn victim joke then there's no helping you, whether I answer or not." Ray threw her arms up in frustration. "Also I'm getting real fucking tired of your questions. Sorry not sorry for the foul language Norman. Anyway that's not the point. Point is I will answer your burning questions when I am damn good and ready to do so. So, unless you have a new question not related to my past, what I do when you aren't around or whether Dorothy and I are getting along or not then stuff it!"
And with that Ray threw herself onto the couch, grabbed a manga in a language no one else in the house knew that she had bought earlier that day and had left on the coffee table, and set to reading.
"Well then," Norman chuckled, "If you won't answer Master Roger perhaps you will if I ask?"
"Sure," Ray's voice dripped with sarcasm, "Just so long as it's also not on the list that Roger isn't allowed to ask."
"What exactly were you doing tonight?"
Ray blinked, it technically wasn't coming from Roger, but she hadn't wanted to answer anyways. Sighing Ray finally told them, "I was out celebrating my birthday."
It got so quiet you could've heard a pin drop, or more realistically the sound of the city streets below. "You didn't think to tell any of us it was today?" Roger was gentle in asking this question, it might be a delicate topic if Ray didn't want to talk about it, much like why she hated Heaven's Day.
She just peered over the pages of the book perplexed, "Why would I? You all were busy with whatever you had to do, you didn't exactly have time for me. And besides, maybe I just wanted a quiet night without hearing you and Dorothy squabble like a young married couple."
"Don't you mean an old married couple?" Dorothy had heard that expression before, but Ray's use of malaphors made it hard for her to understand.
"If you and Roger ever start arguing about which coupons to use at a supermarket I'm out." This particular sarcastic response sent Norman into a fit of laughter, and Ray ended up laughing along with him. Robin chose that moment to pounce on a laughing Ray's stomach and knocked the wind out of her. "Ow, you're getting heavy little guy." She reached up and scratched his ears.
"Well either way, Happy Birthday Ray. It's a bit too late for any of us to get you a present." Roger shrugged. So Ray was willing to talk about something for once, but birthdays weren't exactly the past.
"Dorothy can let me sleep in tomorrow and we'll call it a present." Ray smiled as Robin rubbed all over her purring up a storm. "What do you think Dorothy?"
"That sounds reasonable."
"Is that really all you're going to ask for?" Roger was suspicious of Ray being so amiable for once.
"Well, you could give me a pay raise." Ray playfully ribbed Roger.
"Ah, well…"
Ray and Norman ended up laughing again, and the smallest hint of a smile graced Dorothy's typically dour face.
We Have Come To Terms
We had one Big Duo fight, yes. But what about a second? Next chapter will be out much sooner I hope. I passed all my grad classes with A's so that took all my time.